Do Animals Enter Condemnation or Paradise?

My "T" key sticks I meant immortality

I've never seen evidence that animals have souls, thus neither heaven nor hell.
I find the more of an "animal person" someone is the more they Want to believe animals go to heaven, so they do. People not so vested in animals seem to lean the other way. Since those indifferent have nothing to gain, nor lose, by either answer I'd have to believe they are more objective. Whereas animal lovers have a motivation to believe a certain way, thus making their view skewed in their favor.

Thanks Gary, this is pretty much my understanding of the body, soul, and spirit, as well. But like I had mentioned in my reply to @posthuman, I am still somewhat confused on this subject.

The point where I am stuck, is what you mentioned...The " if animals have a spirit".

Seems to me there will be animals in the next life because there are depictions in scripture such as in Isaiah 11:6-9 .

I'm not sure if that could be animals that have previously passed away and are resurrected, or if it is only pertaining to animals that are alive at that time.

An amusing typo though. My "S" key is starting to stick.

If "spirit" is defined as life force, how could anyone say animals lacked such?

They have a life force, consciousness, intelligence, and feelings, just as we do.

Many species have hierarchical orders which teach right and wrong behaviors, and
some species form strong family bonds that could rival some of those of humans.

Seeing Biblical evidence of animals in the afterlife does not make a view unobjective.

Thanks, well put. That is a very good point to consider, as well.

Very well articulated.

I fully concur with your estimation.

This is where it gets somewhat confusing for me ... determining what the spirit and soul acctually are?

This could get into a long discussion. People define spirit and soul in different ways.

I will try to explain my teachings in regards to spirit and soul. I'm usually pretty long winded so I will make a new post on it, but hopefully I can sum it up and be brief without writing a book. lol

Thank you, I understand, and no worries

How I see it is that animals were proclaimed good when they were created.
God saw them as good, and they were created for His glory.
All things were created for the glory of God. They did not sin.
As such, when the heavens and earth are made new, why
would animals be discontinued/banned/not included?

Some insist: no animals in the afterlife. Why??? They do so claiming
they only go by what is written when no such thing is written! They do
so insinuating any who disagree do so based on emotion and speculation
when clearly they are speculating and emotionally attached to their view! LOL

For me the question comes down to: which animals will be in the afterlife?

By that I do not mean to imply I think some species will be omitted while others are allowed.

That could be the case, but no, I mean, the question really becomes one of,
will present day animals be resurrected? Will beloved pets who have passed
from this life, be part of the life to come? That seems to me to be the question
most people really want answered when they ask about animals in the after life.

The definition of "spirit" as I have been taught is that the spirit is the connection to God. The only way that we can truly know God or be alive in him is through the spirit.

When God told Adam that if he disobeyed him that he would surely die, as soon as he disobeyed him then the spirit that was in him died.

From my understanding, the soul or "nephesh" is the natural emotions/thoughts/personality/consciousness of a person or even could be of an animal. This is where we can form emotional bonds with people or things, but it is also where our own self-will comes in. The soul considers our own wants and needs. It is focused mainly on our own will. What we want/need/feel etc. The soul is what is sometimes referred to as the flesh (self will) in the body. It is the consciousness that drives the physical body through our own wants/needs/personality/etc. It is not in line with the will of God. The flesh on its own cannot know and understand the things of God. It is the spirit that gives us life.


The spirit is the part that connects us directly to God. It is the part that puts God's will first, and is able to understand God's ways and have a relationship with Him. When Adam sinned that is the part of us that died the spirit.

God is the only one that can regenerate the spirit, and He does this through his son Jesus Christ. It is through this regeneration of the spirit that we can have eternal life with God.

This is my understanding of it, and this is where I'm stuck when it comes to animals. I am not sure if they have a spirit or just a soul.

This is where I am unsure so I hope this makes some type of sense to you.

This exactly. I want to see my little dog Yankee. When he sees his daddy his little tail will be wagging and we'll have a good time then.

Wish I would have saw this before my last post. Could have saved myself a lot of trouble by just replying to this post. lol

I do think there will be animals in the after life because they are mentioned in scripture. As far as pets being resurrected, I'm not 100% sure, but like someone else said on here all things are possible.

I know of people giving in prayer request for sick pets and them being healed, so yes all things are possible with God.

It might just be there are animals in hell?!

Mark 9:48 - NIV - "the worms that eat them do not die and the fire is not quenched"
I haven't been able to come up with a good reason to not take this literally.

Interesting. I've never heard it translated that way. I'm not very familiar with the NIV translation.

In this passage, Jesus is quoting Isaiah 66:24 and in both places in most translations they have it...Where "their" worm does not die.

The word "their" seems to make it personal or specific to an individual. Many believe "their worm" in those passages is referring to their consciousness.

Again depending upon how you define soul, this could be interpreted as the soul (consciousness) of man does not die.

On a side note, it is interesting that in Isaiah 41: 14 God calls Jacob (Israel) a worm, saying fear not I (your redeemer) will help you.

what, I thought the devil was thrown into the lake of fire. And those that followed him.

Supposing that may include some animals, not sure.

I know that Noah saved animals on the ark, but actually left off the dinosaurs. Othewise, t rex may still have been tyrannising people today. Lions and tigers and bears got saved though. And snakes, would you believe. Though thankfully none of those animals made it to where I live.

Maybe ask God that one.

hellfire is increasingly used for humans who want to be cremated nowadays.

hold on is this one of those Bible exam questions again

show how your worked it out with scriptures.

I mean yea we can help you but isnt that cheating?

I think I would ask the question.

If Adam and Eve did not sin would animals have died at all?

If they did not sin then no death including animals?

Were animals formed before Adam & Eve?
The two accounts in Genesis seem to contradict between before and after.

It can be answered though.

https://www.apologeticspress.org/AllegedDiscrepancies.aspx?article=643&b=Genesis

As for me I do not think animals that have died will go to heaven or hwll.
I think they cease to exist.

Generally we tend to ask the question as a result of losing our beloved domesticated pets.

We feel bereft and that part of us is missing.
Like I did when I had to put by beloved tofffe dog down.

It may be a bit weird for some but

because generally they're the only ones we love
generally the only ones we have paid much attention to, or given much thought about